How to charge your iPhone 7 and listen to headphones at the same time

With no headphone jack, how do you listen to audio on your iPhone 7 and charge at the same time? With these accessories!

iPhone 7 ditches the old 3.5mm headphone jack and goes all-in on Lightning and wireless. That’s all well and good for the advancement of technology, but it effectively reduces the number of ports on the bottom from two-to-one. So, if you’re using the Lightning port for your headphones, how do you charge at the same time? Whether it’s for listening while you game, or you have reduced or no vision and need to be always listening, simultaneous audio and power isn’t a nice-to-have for some. It’s a must have.

Dongle: Belkin Lightning Audio + Charge RockStar

Similar to the video + charging dongles previously available from Apple, this Belkin break-out lets you plug Lightning into your iPhone 7 and then headphones and a charging cable into the double Lightnings on the other side. Power — including from a battery pack — goes into one, sound comes out the other, and Belkin manages it all.

Belkin currently lists the Lightning Audio + Charge RockStar as “coming soon”, but for those who need it, it’ll hopefully be very soon.

See at Belkin

Desk: iPhone Lightning Dock

Apple has updated their universal iPhone Lightning Dock with new colors to match the new iPhone 7, including silver, gold, rose gold, and black. What makes the iPhone Lightning Dock especially handy, though, is that you can plug Lightening in to charge and 3.5mm headphones to listen to music.

Keep it on your desk or your beside table, and jam out all day or all night.

See at Apple

How are you listening to music?

Sure, it sucks you have to buy and use something extra just to do what you used to do easily and for free, but the future often comes at the cost of a little present pain. In this case you can also choose to go wireless, using either our favorite Bose Q35 noise cancelling Bluetooth headphones, or Apple’s all new wireless AirPods, coming in October.